


We Got A Promise to Keep

by nottheleastbrave



Series: Ain't it a fine (after)life [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Caleb Covington Being a Bastard, F/M, Good Dad Ray Molina, IDK WHAT I AM DOING BUT I PROMISED MYSELF I WOULD POST THIS IN 2021, M/M, My First Fanfic, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Protective everybody really, Season 2 Speculation, in which the author throws all her favorite cliche tropes at the wall and hopes a plot falls out, this turned into a Luke whump fic a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nottheleastbrave/pseuds/nottheleastbrave
Summary: "And then, walking through the high school hallways in Nick’s body one day, Caleb hears the tell-tale sound of a ghost poofing in. And in a split second, he realizes that this is the first time he’s seen Luke without the other boys. And Caleb Covington sees how Luke looks at Julie, and the game begins."Or, Luke is a self sacrificing idiot but Julie, Reggie, and Alex (and Willie!) aren't about to let him get away with it.Title from Newsies because I know what I'm about.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: Ain't it a fine (after)life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130894
Comments: 142
Kudos: 248





	1. Prologue: Caleb

**Author's Note:**

> I have literally NEVER written a fanfic before (or really done creative writing at all) so this is going to be a bit rough. But hopefully also fun? Maybe. 
> 
> Basically I wanted an excuse to put the JATP kids through some of my favorite cliche tropes and also I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and actually contribute to a fandom so seize the day etc etc. 
> 
> Updates may be irregular, chapter lengths may be irregular, all mistakes my own, I really cannot stress enough how little I know what I'm doing. Thanks for being here.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb Covington needs a new plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just the prologue, so it's a bit shorter. Chapters will be longer. Or maybe they won't! We'll all find out together.

Possessing the boy from Julie’s school was not turning out to be quite as useful as Caleb had originally hoped. 

He had hoped, not unreasonably given the evidence, that Julie and this boy were somehow romantically involved, for then he could have more easily used to boy to drive some sort of wedge between Julie and those three ghosts. This proved to be decidedly not the case, but Nick and Julie were at least friends, and that allowed Caleb to observe. 

For you see, he had realized his mistake. He had tried to take all three boys at once. They were extremely close, he could see that now. They drew strength from each other. Having them all together was never going to work. 

But he HAD to have them. He needed their power. They had so MUCH and they didn’t even know it, they just squandered it on silly teenage pranks. It was enough to make him loose his mind. 

So he had to separate them. Break them down one by one so they’d never have the backbone to defy him again. 

At first he thought he’d start with the bassist. He seemed the obvious choice: insecure, a little silly, so desperate for some sort of surrogate family. But Caleb soon realized that this would be the problem. Reggie was too unpredictable alone. There was no telling what he would do or how he would react, which was a terrible foundation on which to begin. So no, he couldn’t start with Reggie. 

He couldn’t start with Alex either, although at first the drummer had seemed an obvious choice as well. It would be so easy to lure him in with Willie. But Alex was so anxious. Always voicing every little thought out loud like a nervous tic. If he went after Alex first, Alex would immediately tell the rest of them, and the game would be up before it even began.

Which left the guitarist: Luke. Co-songwriter and co-lead singer with Julie, and clearly the leader of the three boys. Not the obvious choice at all, for a first target. But then Caleb starts noticing things. He notices how Luke was always checking on Alex, alert for any change in his mood. He notices how Luke so often had an arm around Reggie, as if reassuring him he’s still there. And he notices how Luke prides himself on being the rock of their little group, on being the one the other boys rely on. 

And he remembers some things too. He remembers watching the boys when they first entered his club, and how Alex jokingly hid behind Luke. He remembers Luke rushing him when he appeared in that garage, drawing his attention away from Alex and Reggie and effectively blocking his friends from view. He remembers Luke fighting so hard against him in the club, clearly miserable and frantic, but waiting until Reggie and Alex had vanished before he started trying to poof out in earnest. 

And Caleb thinks he has the beginnings of a plan, but he needs more. 

And then, walking through the high school hallways in Nick’s body one day, Caleb hears the tell-tale sound of a ghost poofing in. And in a split second, he realizes that this is the first time he’s seen Luke without the other boys. And Caleb Covington sees how Luke looks at Julie, and the game begins.


	2. Chapter 1: Alex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An otherwise normal Wednesday falls to shit, and Alex doesn't know why he's surprised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really this first chapter was the whole motivation for the fic, so here it is. Chapter titles will just be POVs because I am lazy.

It really does start out like any other Wednesday (or at least, any other Wednesday post-death by hotdog), so Alex doesn’t think he can be blamed for being completely blindsided by what comes later. 

They all wake up early to see Julie off to school, relishing in the ability to give her goodbye hugs now (and if Luke hugs her a bit tighter and a bit longer than strictly necessary, Alex and Reggie don’t tease him about it. Much.). Then the three of them head to the garage to practice. 

It’s one of those days where Julie and Carlos are both at school, and Ray is off on a shoot, so they can actually play. The run through their current repertoire, because Luke says they have to “stay fresh” (whatever that means), but then they can spend the rest of the day messing around. They play some of their old stuff, they play some covers, they even play Reggie’s country song (and maybe they actually should arrange that one for real, it doesn’t sound half bad). 

(And sure, Alex’s thoughts drift towards Willie a bit more often than he would like. They haven’t seen him since before the Orpheum performance and Alex is trying not to read into that too much. He’s probably just lying low. Or busy. Or something. It’s fine. He’s fine.)

But then towards the end of the day, right about when they know Julie is finishing up school (or at least, when Luke knows Julie is finishing up school, because he’s memorized her class schedule to more effectively follow her around like a puppy), they get a text. 

Since the Orpheum performance they’ve all gotten much better at interacting with the physical world. They still can’t be seen by anyone except Julie, but at least they’re not dropping things all the time. So Julie pulled out her old cell phone from the back of her closet, and reactivated it and got a new SIM card (Alex doesn’t really understand what any of this means, his family hadn’t even had a car phone back in 1995). Alex is in charge of the phone, because according to Julie he “has the braincell most of the time,” so even though he really should be used to it by now he still jumps when it starts buzzing in his pocket. He drops his drumsticks.

“Text from Julie?” asks Luke, because Alex swears that Luke has a sixth ‘Julie Sense’ that’s honestly kind of unnerving. 

“Yeah yeah, give me a sec.” He pulls the phone out of his pocket and unlocks it with his thumb. 

“Just like Star Wars.” whispers Reggie. 

“…okay. Sure. Anyway,” and Alex reads the text. It’s…a bit weird, to be honest. Texts from Julie are usually song ideas, or silly pictures of Flynn, or complaints about how boring her history class is. There are usually misspellings, since she’s often hiding her phone under her desk and typing without looking. And they’re always full of those little faces and pictures that Julie likes so much. This has none of those. 

“Meet me at school,” Alex reads out, “something is wrong. I need help.” 

“Let’s go.” says Luke, already putting away his guitar. 

“Wait, Luke, can’t we think about this? We don’t know what’s going on.” Says Alex. 

“Does it matter?” says Luke, sounding frustrated. 

“But this text is weird. Doesn’t it seem weird to you?” he tries again. 

“Yeah,” chimes in Reggie, “doesn’t she usually use those little emotion-guys?”

“I don’t know, Reg, probably not if something’s really wrong. Come on boys, we have to GO!” Luke is clearly getting more and more frantic with every second they delay going to meet Julie. And maybe he really does have a sixth Julie Sense, and something really is wrong, and Alex will never forgive himself if they don’t help her. 

“Okay, okay. Let’s go.” He concedes, putting the phone back in his pocket. 

(Right before they poof out, Luke shrugs on the flannel he always wears to visit his parents. Later, Alex will think he should have registered that as some sort of ominous sign, but in the moment he just wonders if Luke is cold.) 

To be honest, everything falls to complete shit impressively quickly. 

They arrive at Julie’s school, in some empty classroom that looks like it maybe started its life as a storage space, and Alex hears Reggie draw in a quick breath of fear. Because Julie’s friend Nick is standing there, but his eyes are glowing purple. And then all of a sudden _Caleb Covington_ is standing in this otherwise normal high school classroom, and Nick is collapsing and Alex only just manages to catch him before he hits the floor. Something clatters to the ground and he sees that Nick (Caleb?) had been holding Julie’s phone, which has deeply concerning implications. So he looks over to Luke for reassurance but Luke isn’t looking at Caleb at all and Luke – 

Luke has a look of panicked desperation on his face that Alex has only seen once before, in the back of an ambulance in 1995. 

_Machines beeping too fast. Paramedics talking too loud. Gripping Luke’s hand too tight. Reggie lying next to him but he’s too still and Alex can’t reach him. His whole body is on FIRE and Luke is trying desperately to talk to him but he can’t process anything through the pain and -_

Wrenching himself back to the present, Alex follows Luke’s gaze and his heart (if he had one) stops. Because it’s Julie. Julie is lying motionless on the floor. And Alex feels the panic setting in but Reggie isn’t saying anything and Luke isn’t saying anything and someone has to say _something_ so - 

“What did you do to her?” and Alex is proud of how his voice cracks only a little. 

“Oh don’t worry,” says Caleb, “she’s only unconscious. She’ll wake up when I want her to.” 

“…why?” croaks out Reggie. 

Caleb shrugs and grins. It does not make Alex feel any better. “She was there.”

And Alex feels a flash of white-hot rage and suddenly his mind clears. “Tell us what’s going on. Now.” 

Caleb grins wider. “Well, Alex, it’s simple. You three declined my generous offer,” (“That’s one way to put it,” mutters Reggie under his breath) “and I can’t be expected to leave that kind of power on the table. Now obviously it would have been better if you had joined me willingly the first time, more power that way, but I was prepared to take what I could get. But then your little lifer friend _Julie_ somehow pulled you all the way to the Orpheum.” He tsks, like he’s scolding unruly children for some minor infraction, instead of referencing the fact that he was trying to destroy their _souls._ “So I had to take action. I possessed Nick here to get the inside scoop on all of you. He’ll be fine, don’t worry. He’ll have a headache for a few days, but otherwise good as new.” (Alex highly doubts that) “Anyway, seems like Julie here is the key. Taking power from a lifer is hard, but I think I’ll be able to do it.” Caleb is casually checking for dirt under his fingernails now, not even bothering to make eye contact with them. “Can’t guarantee how she’ll feel after that, but what can you do. Unavoidable side effects. Then I’ll have the power to grab the rest of you whether you like it or not and then - “

“If I come will you leave them alone?” Luke speaks for the first time since they got here, voice hoarse but steady, eyes still locked on Julie. 

“Hmm?” says Caleb, the picture of nonchalance. 

“You said there was more power if we came willingly. If I come willingly, will you leave the rest of them alone?” 

“Luke, what are you doing?” whispers Reggie, and Luke finally looks at the two of them. His eyes are apologetic but his jaw is set and he looks dangerously determined, and Alex feels a deep dread forming in the pit of his stomach. 

“What an interesting idea, Luke.” and three pairs of eyes snap back to Caleb. “I think that could be arranged. It’s the power I really care about, after all. You all are just collateral damage, it’s nothing personal.” Caleb spreads his hands in what Alex assumes is meant to be a placating gesture, but it only makes the alarm bells in his head get louder. He can’t help thinking that Caleb agreed to this plan _much_ too easily. 

But before Alex can say anything, Luke speaks up again: “It’s settled then. I join the club, willingly, and you never bother Julie, or Reggie, or Alex, ever again. Deal?” and Luke holds out his hand. 

“Deal.” says Caleb with a wicked grin, and grabs Luke’s wrist. There’s a flash, and Luke winces in pain, and when Caleb draws his hand back there’s a stamp on Luke’s arm, only instead of purple like before, it’s black. 

“Luke, no!” starts Alex, but just then there’s stirring on the ground, and Julie’s eyes flutter open. 

Luke drops to his knees next to her and starts frantically checking her over for injuries. “Julie, Jules! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Julie blinks and finally focuses on Luke’s face. “Luke! What are you doing here?” She looks behind him and registers Reggie and Alex as well. “You all have to get out right now! Caleb is here! I think he did something to Nick, you have to get home, it’s not safe –“

“Way ahead of you there, Molina.” Luke smirks, probably hoping to make her smile. It doesn’t work. “Nick is fine, Alex has him. And Caleb isn’t going to bother you or Alex or Reggie ever again. You can all go home.” And Alex can tell that Luke is hoping that Julie won’t notice he left his own name off of that list, and Alex hopes so too for one mad second. Maybe they can get her somewhere safe before she realizes and it all comes crashing down. 

“…and you. We all need to get home, Luke.” Damn it. No one says anything, and Julie is looking between all three of them with an increasingly frantic expression, and Alex’s non-existent heart was already breaking but now it feels like it’s completely disintegrating. “No. No, Luke, _no._ What did you do?” And Luke shrugs, trying for a smirk again, but he doesn’t really pull it off. 

“He made a deal, Ms. Molina. He comes back to the club with me, and the rest of you get to move on with your boring little lives. Everything all tied up neat and tidy, don’t you think?” And shit, Caleb is still here, watching all of this, watching all of them break down. And for some reason that makes Alex angrier than anything so far today. 

“Luke, _why?”_ pleads Julie, and she’s starting to cry, and Alex hates this. 

“Because Julie I –“ and Luke swallows thickly and continues in a whisper “…I need you to be safe. I need _all_ of you to be safe.” And that clearly isn’t what Luke had been starting to say, and Alex thinks they all know it. But Julie just stares at Luke for a long moment before she reaches out her hands and grabs the front of his flannel and _kisses_ him. And Luke freezes for a fraction of a second before he’s putting one hand on her cheek and one in her hair and kissing her back and Alex doesn’t think (and Alex would know) that Luke has ever kissed anyone like that before. The rest of them are still sort of frozen when Julie pulls back and says: 

“But I need you to be safe too.” 

“Time to go, Luke. Wouldn’t want to break our deal already.” Cuts in Caleb threateningly, breaking the spell that seems to have been lying over all of them. 

“I’ll be fine, Jules.” says Luke softly, and he starts pulling away from her to stand back up off the floor, but Julie won’t let him go. Her hands are still tangled in his flannel shirt, and her breath is coming faster and faster, and Alex knows the start of a panic attack when he sees one. But Alex also still has the arm of an unconscious Nick draped over one shoulder, so he’s stuck. 

“Reg, please.” Says Luke in a small voice, and Alex really doesn’t think Reggie gets enough credit, because he immediately understands what Luke is asking and crouches down next to Julie, murmuring softly to her and trying to pry her fingers loose. And Julie’s cries of _no no NO_ are getting louder and louder and Alex thinks they’re all crying and his arm is going numb from holding Nick and _shit_ this has turned into such an unmitigated disaster. 

And just when Alex thinks everything is going as badly as it possibly can (and really, shouldn’t he know better than to tempt fate at this point?), Caleb says “Too slow” and snaps his fingers and Luke cries out in pain. 

Julie screams Luke’s name and lunges for him while Reggie holds her back and Luke is gasping for air but still manages to grit out “Home, now” through his teeth and Alex looks at Luke and then looks at Reggie, and Reggie steals his spine and nods, and Reggie and Alex poof Julie and Nick back to the Molina’s garage. 

It feels like they land hard, although Alex knows that doesn’t really make any sense, and he can feel his grip on Nick slipping. So he carefully lowers the still unconscious Nick onto the studio couch, and turns back towards Reggie and Julie. 

Julie has clearly still been trying to break free of Reggie’s grasp, and now she turns in his arms, fists beating his chest. “Take me back, _take me back!_ We can’t just _leave him,_ we have to go _back, please!_ ” 

And Reggie just holds her and takes it, still murmuring softly to her, with tears rolling down his own cheeks. And Julie starts crying in earnest, finally unclenching her fists and wrapping one arm around Reggie’s waist while waving the other in Alex’s general direction. 

So Alex wraps his arms around both of them and they all sink to the floor in what Alex thinks must be the most depressing group hug of all time. And they just huddle there for a while, crying and holding each other as tight as they can. 

But when they’re all cried out, Julie pulls back a little, looks them both in the eyes, and says without any doubt in her voice at all: “We’re getting him back.” 

And Reggie nods but Alex’s brain is screaming at him not to get his hopes up, that Caleb’s too powerful and it’s a lost cause, that they’ll never see Luke again. 

But all the same, it’s hard not to believe in Julie Molina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reggie and Julie sibling supremacy!!!!!!!!


	3. Chapter 2: Luke/Ray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke really hates the HGC, Ray is concerned about his daughter (and also that guitarist)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter, also Luke swears a bunch.

The Hollywood Ghost Club looks exactly like Luke remembers. It’s loud and bright and seems so full of life at first, but he knows better now. He can tell how the ghost performers are just going through the motions, and how the lifer guests’ eyes are a bit too bright, a bit too unfocused. The whole place makes his skin crawl. 

Caleb has poofed them in at the top of the stairs, looking down over the whole club. The second they land Luke wants to bolt, the memory of the last time he was here tightening around his chest. Maybe he could just sneak out, make a break for it. As if reading his thoughts, Caleb turns towards him and says:

“Don’t even think about running.” He gestures to the stamp on Luke’s forearm. “I know where you are at all times now. You won’t get far.” Caleb smiles, “And besides, if you break your side of the deal, I may have to rethink my side as well. Lifers have so much power after all –“ An image of Julie unconscious on the floor stabs through Luke’s heart, and he catches his breath. _Keep her safe. Keep them safe._

“No, no. I’m not running. Just questioning the music choices in this place, could use an update.” He snarks, and Caleb’s eyes narrow. 

“Don’t push your luck, kid. Remember I _own_ you now.” And he snaps his fingers again, causing Luke to double over in pain again. And shit, he can’t let that keep happening. He’s gasping for air (does he even need air?) and his very existence feels tenuous. Caleb smiles. “Follow Dante to your room,” _shit fuck_ who even is that? “he’ll give you your schedule.” And with that, Caleb strides away. 

Luke straightens, wincing as he follows the guy who is apparently Dante (what kind of a name is that anyway? Did he die in the 1600s or something?) down the hall, trying to listen to what he’s saying but mostly trying the push past the ringing in his ears. His _room_ , his _schedule_. He _lives here_ now, and for a moment the sheer terror of that fact overwhelms him. Then suddenly they reach a small room with one bed in it (oh right, he’s needed regular sleep ever since the Orpheum), and Dante is handing him a piece of paper, and he’s left alone. 

He sinks down onto the floor with his back against the door, and hangs his head in his hands. He already misses Reggie and Alex and _Julie_ so much he could scream, but he doesn’t make a sound. If he’s going to make it through this he has to get it together. He’s doing this _for them_ he tells himself. This will protect them. This will keep them safe. He can handle anything if it keeps them safe. 

And _fuck_ things had been going so well recently. After the Orpheum, after Julie saved their entire afterlives, things really had been changing for the better. Obviously the biggest change is that they weren’t jolted out of existence, but Luke honestly sometimes forgets about that in light of their newfound ability to touch Julie. 

Luke had been freaking out about that a bit, actually. In those first moments he was euphoric, because holy shit he could _touch Julie_ , but he soon started overthinking it (And wasn’t overthinking supposed to be Alex’s thing? Is this how Alex feels all the time??? Because it fucking sucks.). No matter what Reggie says, Luke isn’t in complete denial. He knows how he feels about Julie, even if he’s been too much of a coward to say it out loud. And being able to touch her really was not helping. 

But it’s not fair to her, is it? Because yeah, they can touch now, but he’s still dead. He doesn’t know if he can even _age_ , for fuck’s sake. And Julie doesn’t deserve that, she doesn’t deserve more loss and stress, especially now that things are finally going well. So he’s been holding back as much as he can, but if he’s honest with himself, he wasn’t doing that great a job. 

And God, he had almost cracked there on the floor of her high school. She was looking at him so intensely, with tears in her eyes, and asking him why he did it and _fuck how could she not KNOW?_. So he almost said it, but he stopped himself just in time. Because he really wouldn’t be able to live (not-live?) with himself if he told Julie he loved her right before she never saw him again. 

Trust Julie to screw up his plans yet again by fucking _kissing him_ in front of everyone. And yeah, he said he was going to keep his distance, but he’s a 17-year-old (dead) boy not a _saint_ ~~and he loves her~~. 

But thinking about The Kiss (capitalized, like something important, or the title of a song, or…SHIT Patterson get it together) makes him think about the immediate aftermath of the kiss, when his friends were crying because of him and sure he was technically saving their (after)lives but they were still hurting because of HIM and he really wishes he could stop doing that – 

_”I’m thinking street dogs.” “We’re gonna get back at Bobby. He needs to pay for what he did to us.”_

But he can stop hurting them now, by staying here and keeping Caleb away from them. Forever. So Luke looks at the paper Dante handed him and starts learning his schedule. _Now or never, right?_

And his life (or afterlife) at the Hollywood Ghost Club starts taking on a predictable rhythm. He cleans the club, greets guests, serves drinks, and sets up the stage for whatever entertainment Caleb has planned. He’s calm and efficient in a way he never was in life, but he figures lying low is the safest thing he can do right now. 

Caleb doesn’t let him play, which he tells himself is a blessing in disguise. He doesn’t want to play in Caleb’s stupid house band anyway. He doesn’t want to play with anyone except Julie and Alex and Reggie. But still, he misses it, and he catches himself staring at the guitars on stage longingly, even if he hates himself for that a little bit. 

But the thing that starts to get to him the most, that he doesn’t even notice at first, is that no one ever _touches_ him. The lifers can’t, obviously, but the other ghosts don’t either. Luke isn’t looking to make any close friends or anything, but he notices that none of the ghosts seem very interested in each other. They don’t make small talk, or check in with each other, or even gossip about the lifer guests. And Luke didn’t realize how much he was relying on his friends’ physical presence to help him keep it together until now. 

At first he keeps reaching for them, feeling disoriented when he finds no one there. Turning to throw his arm over Reggie’s shoulders, or grab Alex’s arm. Waiting for a reassuring pat on the back or a hug that never comes. And always, _always_ searching for Julie’s hand. To ground him, to reassure him, to let him know that they’re a team and she’s not going anywhere. It’s crazy, he thinks, because he wasn’t able to touch her for most of the time he’s known her. Her physical presence should be the easiest to give up. But it’s like something inside him realigned during that hug after the Orpheum, and now every time his hand finds nothing but air it feels like one of Caleb’s jolts. 

(He looks for Willie, but he doesn’t see him anywhere, and he tries not to worry about that. He hopes, for Alex’s sake, that he’s just off skateboarding somewhere. But, then again, Caleb owns Willie’s soul, so maybe not.) 

Luke grits his teeth, and keeps reminding himself that they’re safe. _They’re safe they’re safe they’re safe…_

______________________________________________________________________________ 

Ray Molina knew something was wrong with his daughter. She had been doing so much better recently: singing, laughing with Flynn, playing with Carlos. Ever since joining that hologram band, it’s like the old Julie had come back. A little sadder, a little wiser maybe, but Julie just the same. He’d never been so proud of his daughter as he was that night at the Orpheum. And after that performance Julie shined even brighter. A weight seemed to have lifted off her shoulders, like she had been holding back and didn’t need to anymore. 

But then a week or so ago something changed again. She started spending even more time in the studio than usual, and her mind constantly seemed to be somewhere else. He hadn’t even seen her get home from school today, she’d just gone straight to the garage. When he went to get her for dinner, he heard hushed, serious voices coming from inside. Not wanting to disturb anything, he knocked, calling out softly. 

“Julie? Time for dinner, mija!”

“Coming, Papi!” He heard shuffling and Julie opened the garage doors, revealing her serious face. “We were just working on some band stuff, lost track of time.” Julie waved her phone and smiled, but Ray wasn’t convinced. 

Ray and Julie went back into the house. Carlos was over at a friend’s that night, so Julie started quietly setting the table, carefully setting a third place for Rose. Ray watched her, noticing the faint remnants of tear tracks on her face. Growing more concerned by the minute, he tried to sound as casual as he could and asked,

“Are you okay, mija?”

“What? Oh, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio. Everything okay with the band?”

“Yeah, we just have a lot to work on. You know.” When she didn’t say anything else, he tried again. 

“Anything to do with that guitarist, Luke?” Julie dropped the fork she was holding and stared at him with wide eyes.

“What? Why would you say that?” her voice going up nearly a whole octave. Ray can’t help chuckling. 

“Mija. I’m your father. I can see the way that boy looks at you when you perform, and I can see the way you look right back. Did you two have a fight?” 

“No, no. We didn’t have a fight. He’s just…I just…” she pauses and takes a deep breath before whispering, “I’m just worried about him.” And she looks so distressed that Ray can’t help but feel his anxiety ramp up a notch. 

“Is he alright?” 

“He…he will be. We’re going to help him. He’s going to be fine.” It sounds like Julie is trying to convince herself more than him, and Ray starts worrying that something is really wrong, something more than just petty high school drama. 

“Julie, what’s going on? Do you need help?” 

“No! No. It’s fine. We’ve got it. Don’t worry, Papi.” And he doesn’t really believe her, but he decides to leave it for now. 

But he watches Julie even more closely after that, and the fact that she’s too distracted and anxious to notice his hovering worries him more than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen Luke is a sad boi these are just the rules. 
> 
> Also I know I've been playing fast and loose with ghost powers in this fic (Alex and Reggie can poof lifers! They sleep now!) but that's probably not going to change because I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I AM DOING. Maybe when we get a Willie POV he will shed some light on wtf is going on.
> 
> Also I can't believe how many of y'all actually like this fic and by extension my writing. Truly the biggest plot twist of the start of 2021.


	4. Chapter 3: Julie/Willie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie's honestly pretty tired, and Willie (re)makes a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this was like pulling teeth, but then it ended up the longest part so far? Idk. 
> 
> Also, Caleb is a real emotionally manipulative dick to Luke in this chapter.

It’s been a week, and they’re no closer to figuring out how to get Luke out of the Hollywood Ghost Club than they were when they first landed back in the garage. Julie feels like she’s running on fumes, but she can’t give up. They have to get him back, they just have to.

After they finished crying, they’d spent most of that first afternoon trying to figure out what to do about Nick. In the end, it turned out they didn’t have to. Nick didn’t have any memory of being possessed and thought he had just fallen asleep in the garage during a study session. Julie didn’t understand how that was possible, but she didn’t correct him (although she did insist on paying for his Lyft ride home, she figured it was the least she could do. But she still felt unbelievably guilty.). 

That night, Julie tried to sleep, she really did. She went to her room and put on her pajamas and lay in bed and closed her eyes and tried to force her brain to turn off. But it wouldn’t. Images of the day kept flashing through her head against her will. Nick’s eyes glowing purple and her own vision going black, Luke’s worried face, Alex holding Nick while he was unconscious, Reggie looking panicked, Luke trying to smile at her, Luke whispering _I need you to be safe_ , Luke kissing her back, Luke telling her to go, Luke crying out in pain, Luke Luke _Luke_ \-- 

So she got up to go downstairs to make a mug of tea in a last ditch effort to calm herself down. But when she opened her bedroom door Reggie and Alex came tumbling inside, having clearly been camped out in the hallway. 

“What are you doing out here?” Julie asked, her voice still a bit hoarse from crying earlier. 

“We were just…we didn’t want you to be alone. But, you know, boundaries.” Reggie said, pulling on the sleeve of his flannel before gesturing at the doorframe. Alex just nods, his fingers tapping out a rhythm on his leg. And Julie almost started crying again, thanking the universe (and her mother, most likely) for sending her these boys. 

But holding her tears back, she just silently ushered them into her room and told them to make themselves comfortable. And Julie had finally fallen asleep with Reggie’s head on her shoulder and Alex’s hand in hers. 

That’s how it had gone the rest of the week. The first couple of nights the boys had acted like they were going to sleep in the studio, but by the third day without Luke they all stopped pretending. Alex and Reggie didn’t want to be alone either. 

They started following her to school too. When she asked them about it, Alex had just shrugged and said that they didn’t want her to face any more surprises on her own. She’d hugged them both for a long time after that. 

She stayed home from school on Thursday, telling her dad she had a headache, but on Friday she had a history test and she knew her family would worry if she missed it. Flynn found her (and Alex and Reggie) at her locker at the beginning of the day, but Julie just told her “later” and focused on making it through her first three classes (she thinks she did okay on the history test, thank god). 

She pulled Flynn to a far corner of the courtyard during their free period to fill her in on what was going on (it hadn’t felt like something she could explain over text). And when Flynn immediately wrapped her in a hug and whispered “I’ll help you get him back, I promise.” Julie had never been more grateful for her best friend. 

Flynn has come over every day after school, and spent the whole weekend at the Molinas. And thank goodness for that, because Flynn is nothing if not practical. If Julie’s honest, she and Reggie and Alex need a good dose of practicality sometimes. 

But now it’s the following Wednesday, and they still don’t have anything resembling a complete plan. Julie is playing a soft melody on the keyboard, with Reggie and Alex backing her up so Flynn can see them, and Flynn is standing in front of a whiteboard that she stole from the closet in the music room at school (Julie had decided not to ask too many questions about that one). 

“So why can’t we just sneak in there and break him out, again?” asks Flynn. 

“Because, he made a deal,” explains Alex patiently, “he went there on purpose. If we just break him out, what’s to stop Caleb from pulling him back and hurting him even more? Or going after one of us?” Flynn thinks for a minute, tapping her foot impatiently. 

“Okay, then maybe we’re going about this all wrong. We keep focusing on how to get Luke out of the club, but we can’t do that with Caleb still ghosting around. So let’s figure out how to take down Caleb.” Everyone freezes at Flynn’s words. “Ugh, guys, start playing again. I can’t see you.” Sheepishly they all start up again, and Julie considers the idea. On the one hand, she feels sort of silly for not thinking of it before, but on the other hand, it’s _Caleb._ He’s incredibly powerful, what chance would they possibly have? As if reading her mind, Reggie pipes up,

“Um, Flynn? Remember how he almost erased us from existence?!?!”

“Yeah,” agrees Julie, “Caleb’s like, really powerful. I don’t know how we’d even START trying to get rid of him.” 

“But Julie, you somehow got rid of the stamp before, right? Maybe you can do that again.” 

“Luke’s stamp was different this time, though.” Julie shudders remembering how it looked on his skin. “And I don’t actually know what I DID after the Orpheum. I just hugged them, and the stamps vanished.” 

“It _was_ a pretty great hug.” Whispers Reggie to Alex, and Julie rolls her eyes, smiling a little for the first time in days. 

“We don’t know that much about Caleb.” Says Alex. “Where his powers come from, or what he’s even capable of. We still don’t really know how _any_ of this ghost stuff works.” Alex sounds pained, and Julie catches Reggie’s eye, the two of them sharing a look of concern for their friend. They’re all thinking about Willie, and Julie wishes there was something she could say to make Alex feel better, but the truth is that none of them have any idea if Willie is alright. _Luke would know what to say._ thinks Julie desperately, and god she misses him _so much._

They’re all such a mess. 

“Someone has to know _something_ though, right?” tries Flynn. “If Caleb has been around a long time, there’s bound to be evidence of him somewhere.”

“We know he was a magician,” says Reggie, “does that help?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. Thanks, Reggie.” They all sit without talking, thinking. Just then an alarm on Flynn’s phone goes off, reminding her to head back to her own house for dinner. She stands up and claps her hands, all business. “Okay, ghosts and gals. Here’s the plan: I’ll do some internet sleuthing on Caleb Covington, and you all try to figure out Julie’s magic powers.”

“I don’t have magic powers, Flynn.”

“Close enough. And it’s the best we’ve got right now.” Julie supposes that’s true, but it really doesn’t feel like a lot to go on. She looks at Alex and Reggie, and they look similarly unconvinced. 

It’s starting to look like getting Luke back is going to take a miracle, but Julie’s not going to give up. She’s not losing anyone else ~~she loves~~.

_______________________________

Willie hadn’t been allowed to leave the HGC for WEEKS after the boys crossed over. (And given how angry Caleb had been, playing The Orpheum really must have been their unfinished business, because he’d definitely be gloating if he’d managed to jolt them out of existence.)

But although Willie was definitely relieved that he hadn’t been punished more, he was going a little stir crazy. Caleb had always given him a lot of freedom (something he used to be so grateful for, whereas now he sees how Caleb was manipulating him the entire time. He still feels sick about it.). So being confined to the club is new. Caleb has been gone during the day recently, but he always comes back in the evening, and Willie knows he’s also being watched by Caleb’s more loyal followers. 

All this to say, that when Caleb asks him to go out of town for a few days to track down and recruit some new ghosts, Willie jumps at the chance. He’s planning on telling the ghosts to stay as far away from the HGC as possible, but Caleb doesn’t have to know that until later. He figures he can always lie and say he couldn’t find them. 

Except, he doesn’t have to lie, because he _actually_ can’t find them. Which is weird, because for all of Caleb’s quirks, he’s never sent Willie on a wild goose chase before. But Willie isn’t going to argue with a few days of freedom. 

(He thinks about Alex, and tries to convince himself that he’s happy for him. He fails.)

When he gets back to the club, he braces himself for Caleb’s anger at the fact that he didn’t find those new ghosts, but the anger never comes. Caleb almost seems to have forgotten about the request, and just tells Willie that he doesn’t need him to work in the main ballroom anymore. 

Which is honestly just weird, because Willie is GREAT at customer service (if he does say so himself), and that’s usually his main job at the club. But Caleb, after weeks of never letting him go outside, seems really insistent that Willie spend as much time off skating as possible. Caleb is acting like he’s doing Willie a huge favor, like he’s finally forgiving him for the Orpheum Incident and letting him get back to the afterlife he wants, but Willie has known Caleb for a long time. He knows bullshit when he sees it.

For some reason, Caleb is trying to keep Willie away from the club. 

But Willie is smart, so he just nods, and quietly leaves Caleb’s office with a smile. And he waits. 

He waits until he knows Caleb is going to be away from the club for a few hours, and sneaks into the ballroom. And Willie finds probably the last thing he ever expected to see. 

Luke, _Alex’s Luke_ , is stacking chairs in the main ballroom of the Hollywood Ghost Club. 

And honestly what the fuck. Didn’t they cross over? Why is he HERE? And if he’s here is Alex – 

Willie makes his way across the floor, weaving between other ghosts and furniture as he tries to reach Luke as quickly as possible without raising suspicion. He slides up next to him and softly touches his arm, whispering: 

“Luke!” And Luke practically jumps out of his skin. 

“Willie?!?! Holy shit!” Luke throws his arms around Willie’s shoulders, and Willie has to admit, it’s a pretty good hug. Not as good as one from Alex, but still. Then Willie notices that Luke is shaking a little bit, and feels really cold, even for a ghost. “What are you doing here?”

“What am _I_ doing here, what are _you_ doing here? Didn’t you all cross over? Did Caleb stamp you again? Did he stamp Alex? Is Alex –“

“Alex is fine, don’t worry. The Orpheum wasn’t our unfinished business, obviously, but he’s fine. Julie saved us. And Caleb is never going to bother Alex, or Reggie or Julie, ever again.” And _oh thank god_. Still, 

“But Luke, why are you HERE?” And Luke just shrugs. 

“I made a deal.” He says too casually, not meeting Willie’s eyes. And Willie finally notices the stamp on Luke’s forearm, and _oh shit._

“Luke, what did you do?” They’ve been whispering this whole time, but now Luke loses it a little. 

“What I had to do, all right? He was hurting Julie! He was going to hurt all of them. I couldn’t let that happen, so I made a deal.” And Luke is glaring at him now, his jaw set but his eyes frantic, and Willie can’t believe he spent so many years willfully ignoring what Caleb was really like (he’s never going to forgive himself for that). 

And speaking of Caleb, suddenly the sadistic ghost’s voice comes drifting down from the upper level, berating some poor lacky about the placement of a (in Willie’s opinion, hideously ugly) vase. Willie and Luke both freeze in panic. 

“Shit. Okay. We’re going to figure this out, but Caleb can’t know I was here. He can’t know I talked to you.”

“There’s nothing to figure out Willie, I came here willingly. It’s done.” Luke sounds so resigned, so defeated, and it’s so far from the Luke that Willie first met, and Willie notices again how pale Luke looks. He grabs Luke’s arm, looking straight at him,

“We WILL figure this out, Luke. We will, but I have to go. Just, lie low, okay? Don’t cause any trouble.” Luke nods once, and goes back to stacking chairs, and Willie ducks into a side hallway. But before he disappears, he hears Luke softly call out: 

“Hey Willie? I’m glad you’re okay.” And he looks back, and Luke is smiling at him, just a little bit. And Willie smiles back, and makes his escape. 

He’s itching to go find Alex, to verify with his own eyes that Alex is okay, but he also knows that he’ll never forgive himself if he doesn’t figure out what’s wrong with Luke as soon as possible. _He has to make this right._

So Willie waits again. But this time instead of just watching Caleb, he’s also watching Luke. And what he sees is…concerning. Caleb has clearly told the other ghosts to ignore Luke as much as possible, but the guitarist’s mere presence in the club is unnerving everyone somehow. It’s not like they’re ever one big happy family, but usually there’s SOME interaction. But in the ballroom (which Willie notices is Luke’s only assignment), there’s nothing. 

In fact, the only person who actually interacts with Luke at all is Caleb himself. Willie can rarely get close enough to hear what he says, but what he does hear honestly makes him want to punch Caleb in the face. 

“Alex and Reggie really are so talented, and they had such bright futures. Whose idea was it to get those hotdogs anyway, Luke?” “Luke, I am so glad you wanted help getting revenge on your old bandmate. We never would have met otherwise.” “I wonder how Julie’s doing, she seemed so upset that day at her school.” 

And Willie knows that Alex (and by extension Reggie and Julie) doesn’t blame Luke for any of things Caleb is not so subtly accusing him of. But he also knows that Alex was worried that Luke was blaming himself anyway, and he can see how Caleb’s needling is affecting him. Because it seems like Luke is fading right before his eyes. 

And then he suddenly puts it all together, and Willie knows _exactly_ what’s going on here. _Of course._

Because there’s a reason Caleb is the most powerful ghost in LA, and there’s a reason he wants Luke and Alex and Reggie so badly. And there’s a reason all the ghosts in the HGC are quieter and jumpier than usual. 

So Willie finally does what he’s been burning to do since he first talked to Luke in the club. He goes to find Alex. 

He poofs right into the garage without really thinking about it beforehand, and a girl screams. _Oh shit that must be Julie._

“Willie? Oh my god, WILLIE?!?!” And that’s Reggie, so where’s – 

And all of a sudden, Willie is almost knocked over by a tall pink blur, and he hears Alex’s voice saying _oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my GOD_ as he’s almost suffocated by a hug. And Willie hugs Alex back with everything he has because if he doesn’t he thinks he might fall apart. After another minute (or maybe an eternity), Alex pulls back and looks at Willie with a concerned expression. And _wow_ Willie could stare at Alex forever. 

“Willie! What happened? Are you alright? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” 

“I’m fine I’m fine, Caleb wouldn’t let me leave the club and I thought that you…anyway. He wouldn’t let me leave the club but I’m fine now. I’m fine, Alex.” And Alex hugs him again, quickly, with tears in his eyes. 

“Willie, while you were in the club, did you see…?” And Reggie doesn’t even have to finish his question before Willie nods and replies, 

“Yeah, I saw Luke. We have to figure out a way to get him out of there, _now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am, as always, #hereforthehugs (if you know, you know). 
> 
> Yeah I decided that Nick was fine because I could only have Caleb traumatizing so many teenagers at a time, and also Nick just...isn't really a part of this story? Sorry, Nick fans. 
> 
> Also I almost cut this chapter off right before the Willex reunion but then Wednesday in America happened and I wanted to cheer myself up. 
> 
> Love you all, can't believe you're still here reading this.


	5. Chapter 4: Reggie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reggie is glad Willie is here, but what he has to say isn't exactly reassuring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get Reggie's POV! And the explanation of what exactly Caleb is doing to Luke. 
> 
> I hope it's a satisfying reveal, my approach to ghost powers is essentially just "whatever lets me utilize all my angsty headcanons." Logic is not the priority here.

Reggie is pretty happy to see Willie. Not as happy as Alex, obviously, but still very happy. Reggie likes Willie, he’s funny and cool and knows how to skateboard, which is awesome. But most importantly, Willie knows all about the Hollywood Ghost Club. 

And look, Reggie isn’t trying to use or manipulate the guy or anything (he’s not Caleb, after all), but it’s been a week without Luke and Reggie is _freaking out_. 

This might be the longest Reggie has ever gone without seeing Luke, actually. They met on the first day of kindergarten and immediately became inseparable. They were both only children, and for a long time, Luke was the closest thing to a brother Reggie ever had. Eventually they met Alex and then Bobby, who were his brothers too (or well, not Bobby anymore, but Reggie doesn’t really like thinking about that), but Luke will always be his first real friend. 

So yeah, Reggie is _really freaking out._

And obviously Alex is freaking out, because he’s Alex, so Reggie saw that coming. But Reggie thinks Julie is freaking out too, and Julie has been becoming more and more like a sister to him (although he supposes that pushes her kiss with Luke into Luke/Leia territory, which doesn’t work because they’re actually really good together, and while Julie could definitely be a badass space princess, his best friend is too earnest to be a Han, so the comparison kind of breaks down…anyway, moving on), and that’s hard to watch. So he just hugs them a lot. Reggie doesn’t necessarily have a lot of ideas for the rescue mission, but he figures he can always be around for hugs. 

It’s just really a lot of freaking out, for one group of people. 

But Willie is here now, and that should help, right? And Willie seems just as worried about Luke as they are. And, okay, that actually is also concerning, because Willie is usually pretty unflappable except in truly dire circumstances. But at least Willie has _seen_ Luke recently, which is more than the rest of them can say. 

Reggie tunes back into the conversation just in time to hear Alex officially introducing Julie to Willie (oh right, she’s never actually met him before), and is grateful that Julie’s ghost seeing abilities extend to their friend, because otherwise they would have been in for a long afternoon. 

“So you saw Luke? How is he?” asks Reggie from his spot perched on the arm of a chair. Willie sighs and looks at the floor. 

“How much did Caleb tell you about the Hollywood Ghost Club?”

“Only that joining would solve all our problems. And we all know how THAT turned out.” answers Alex sarcastically. 

“Well, Caleb is like, crazy powerful. And obviously he owns all the souls at the club, and can use the stamps to control us if he needs to, like he tried to do with you guys.” Reggie shudders at the memory, clutching at his stomach like he can still feel a phantom (ha) stab of pain. 

“And that’s what he’s done to Luke again, right? Stamp him? We saw Caleb hit him with another jolt,” says Julie from the couch, staring at Willie almost like she wants that to be true. And Reggie suddenly remembers what she said to Flynn earlier, that Luke’s stamp looked different this time. 

“…yes and no.” says Willie cautiously, and he takes a deep breath before continuing. “All ghosts have some level of power. Usually only enough to knock small things off tables, trample a pattern in cornfields, things like that. But you three have a lot. So does Julie, somehow, even though she’s a lifer. And that drives Caleb insane.”

“Yeah, we’d pretty much picked up on that one. Not the most stable ghost on this side of the afterlife, is he?” snarks Reggie, trying to diffuse some of the tension. Willie just looks so worried, and Reggie hopes he’s not also freaking out. They don’t need any more freaked out ghosts in here. But Willie chuckles a little bit, which Reggie counts as a win. 

“Yeah, Caleb’s not super good at keeping his cool. But anyway, there are actually two kinds of stamps. He usually just uses the ones he gave you guys before, which can eventually jolt ghosts out of existence. That one doesn’t take a lot of Caleb’s power, but he also doesn’t get any power out of it. And neither does the club. And the club actually takes a lot of power to stay functioning, there’s a lot going on in there. So, if he really needs to, or if he’s mad enough, Caleb has a second kind of stamp.” Willie pauses again, and Alex takes his hand and squeezes it gently. 

“What does the other stamp do, Willie?” asks Julie gently. 

“The other stamp, um, drains the ghost of their power.” 

“What? What does that even mean?” exclaims Alex, his voice getting higher as his anxiety clearly ramps up. 

“Exactly what it sounds like. It funnels their power into the club. It takes a lot out of Caleb to do it, temporarily at least, so he doesn’t use it unless he has to. And honestly, the club is running fine right now, so he must be really pissed at you guys to have used it on Luke.” Willie pauses again, and Reggie forces himself to ask what he knows they’re all silently thinking. 

“What’s going to happen to him?” Willie gulps, and Reggie feels kind of bad because they’re all staring at him with such frantic expressions, and that can’t be fun. But they have to know. 

“He’ll just…he’ll fade away, after a while. I’ve seen it happen before, everyone in the club has. It’s worse than the jolts because you feel it _all the time,_ just steadily getting worse. The fact that Caleb is draining Luke has really put everyone on edge.” And Reggie could really give a rat’s ass about the feelings of the other ghosts in the HGC, but he doesn’t say that out loud. 

“Can Luke…does he know? Can he feel it?” asks Julie quietly, and Alex sucks in a sharp breath. 

“I don’t think he knows, no.” answers Willie. “But I think he’s been feeling weaker, whether he realizes it or not. And Caleb…isn’t helping. He keeps cornering Luke in the club, saying things to upset him. And I think that’s helping the stamp work faster.” Julie rubs her temples with her hands and Alex lets go of Willie and starts pacing. 

“So what do we do? How long does he have? How do we stop it? _Can_ we even stop it?” Alex yells at Willie, and Reggie sees Willie’s face look stricken. 

“Alex, calm down.” Alex whirls back towards him. 

“Are you serious, Reggie? Calm down??? Luke is going to just fade away in that god-forsaken club and you want me to calm down?!?!”

“I know! I know, okay? But give Willie some time to breathe, it’s not his fault.” And Alex stops in the middle of pacing and turns back towards his…whatever Willie is. Willie is hugging himself and looking at the floor. 

“Oh shit, god damn it. Willie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m just worried.”

“It’s fine Alex. I am the one who brought you three to Caleb in the first place, so this is all kind of my fault.” 

“No Willie, it’s not.” Julie’s voice rings out, firm and determined. “You’re as much a victim of this whole situation as anyone. None of this is anyone’s fault but Caleb’s.” And Reggie wonders if Julie knows how amazing she is, because her words cause Willie to visibly relax, and even smile a little. 

“Thanks, Julie. Alex was right when he said you were like human sunshine.” And Willie is smirking, so Reggie can’t help but chime in. 

“Aww, Alex, that’s almost poetic.” Alex scowls at him. 

“Oh shut up, both of you. Luke is the lyricist, not me.” But Julie just smiles softly and reaches over to squeeze Alex’s hand. Then she speaks up again. 

“Hey Willie? What has Caleb been saying to Luke?” And Reggie can tell that Willie doesn’t want to tell them, so it must be really bad. 

“He keeps bringing up Julie, reminding him how upset she was. Threatening to hurt her if Luke doesn’t cooperate.” And that’s bad enough, but Willie pauses, and Reggie can tell there’s more. “And he keeps bringing up how you died, and the stamps the first time. He wants Luke to think that he’s to blame.”

“Fuck,” says Alex, and Reggie has to agree. _Fuck._ “But it’s not his fault! He has to know none of that is his fault,” continues Alex frantically. And Reggie wishes that were true, but he knows his best friend pretty well. And he knows that Luke tends to take responsibility for things that he really shouldn’t, and that he’s always thought it was his job to protect his friends (a memory of Bobby literally sitting on Luke to stop him from running off to physically fight Alex’s parents comes to mind). 

“So let’s stop him,” says Julie, her eyes flashing. “Let’s stop Caleb.” And suddenly she’s all business, and Reggie breathes a sigh of relief. Because Julie Molina is actually a badass, and they all seemed to forget that a bit this past week. But Julie will do anything to help her friends (she and Luke have that in common), and as much as Willie’s words clearly hurt, they also seem to have galvanized her. “Willie, can you talk to Luke in the club while still keeping yourself safe?”

“I can, yeah.”

“Okay. Tell him we’re fine, that it’s not his fault, and we’re coming to get him. Don’t let him make any excuses. He’s stubborn, but so are we. Alex, go with Willie as far as the HGC, and then see what you can find about Caleb or the club at the library. I’m almost positive it’s still in the same place it was when you were alive, and you can access the really old books without being seen. Take the phone, and keep us updated. Reggie and I will stay here and practice our ghost powers. Then tomorrow, we’ll regroup with Flynn.” 

“And I’ll poke around the club some more, see if I can find anything else useful,” adds Willie. “I’ll be back here tomorrow afternoon. Anything else that you want me to tell Luke?” And Reggie and Alex and Julie all look at each other, because there’s obviously _so much_ they want to tell Luke, but they mostly just want him back home and safe. 

“Just tell him we miss him,” says Reggie, and the other two nod. Willie smiles, a little soft, a little sad, and Reggie wonders when the last time the guy had real friends was. He’s glad he crashed into Alex on that skateboard, because it looks like Willie needs them as much as they need him. 

Alex leans over the couch and gives Julie a tight hug, whispering something in her ear. Julie just nods, and releases him. Then he walks over and gives Reggie a hug that’s more like a headlock, which makes Reggie smile. 

“Be careful, Al.”

“I hate that nickname,” grumbles Alex, and takes Willie’s hand, following him through the door. 

Reggie turns back to Julie, a question about what she means by “practice our ghost powers” on the tip of his tongue, when the look on her face stops him. 

Julie has just shrugged on a sweatshirt she’d left in the garage earlier in the week, and has one hand in the pocket, the other hand open in front of her. Her determination from a few minutes ago has vanished, and she’s completely still, staring at something in her hand like if she blinks at all it will disappear. 

“Hey Julie? Are you okay? What are you holding?” (And obviously none of them are _okay,_ but Reggie’s pretty sure Julie knows what he means.) 

“What? Oh. It’s um…it’s a button. From Luke’s flannel. I must have pulled it off when he…when you…anyway, it was in the pocket of my sweatshirt. This is the sweatshirt I was wearing that day, I guess.” Her voice sounds hollow and far away, and Reggie quickly moves over to the couch next to her. 

“Oh, Julie.” He says softly, gathering her into a hug as she starts to cry. And goodness, they really are doing a lot of hugging and crying these days. _Maybe they’re ALL the emotional ones._

“I just…obviously I want to get him out as fast as we can, but I still thought we had more TIME,” says Julie into his chest, her fist between them, still clutching the 25-year-old button. “I didn’t think we had to worry about Caleb…doing THAT.”

“Of course not Jules, no one did. It’s not your fault.” Or at least, Reggie thinks, it’s not _Julie’s_ fault. She’s never even met Caleb. But a part of him wonders if he or Alex should have predicted something like this, because they know firsthand that Caleb’s a sick bastard. And he knows Luke would tell them they couldn’t have known, but still. “And remember we have Willie as an inside man now, planning is going to go a lot better with him around. And he’ll check on Luke for us, tell us how he’s doing.” 

“Yeah, yeah you’re right. We’ve got this.” And Julie pulls back, wiping her eyes and looking up at him. “I’m sorry, Reg. I keep crying all over you.”

“It’s fine, Jules. Don’t worry about it.” She stares at him, in that way she has where she sees right through all of them, right down to whatever it is they’re trying to hide from her (he’s still not ruling out witch, honestly). 

“Reggie, come on. You all are always worrying about me, let me return the favor for once. How are you doing?” He sighs heavily. 

“About the same as you, I guess. Luke’s my best friend, you know? If Caleb manages to drain him the way Willie says he wants to…I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t even know who I am without Luke.” Reggie clamps his mouth shut, worried he’s said too much, and that he’s just upset Julie more. But Julie puts her hand on his arm and says,

“First of all, you’re an amazing friend and person, and a killer bassist. You’ll still be Reggie, no matter what happens. And second of all, we’re going to save him. It’s like you said, we have Willie now. And Flynn. Caleb won’t know what’s hit him.” Reggie lets out a watery laugh. 

“Has Luke been giving you pep talk lessons? That was pretty good.” Julie just grins at him. 

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing.” She gets quiet and serious again, and reaches both hands behind her neck. Reggie’s confused for a minute until he sees she’s unclasping her “Julie” necklace, and resting it in her lap. She carefully picks up one end of the chain, and threads it through the button in her hand. Then she clasps it back around her neck. When she’s finished, Luke’s button sits right next to the flower at the end of her name. 

Reggie thinks that’s fitting, somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crop circles are just himbo ghosts, who knew! 
> 
> Reggie cares so much about his friends and not very much about himself and I'm constantly emo about it. 
> 
> Spent waaaaaaaay too long trying to figure out if Julie's name necklace had a star or a flower at the end. As you do. 
> 
> Also I have unnecessarily firm theories about how much each of the boys swear (Luke a lot, Alex some, Reggie barely ever), if anyone is curious about those.


	6. Chapter 5: Flynn/Willie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn goes above and beyond the typical call of friendship, and Willie experiences Luke's stubbornness firsthand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My girl Flynn is here! She can't see ghosts but she's still trying to help. Also let Flynn say fuck 2k21. 
> 
> And yeah Willie is the first repeat POV. I love my dead gay son.
> 
> Apologies in advance about my lazy text message formatting.

Don’t get her wrong, Flynn loves Julie, she does, but she really did not sign up for this. The ghost band was bad enough (no matter how cute they are), but then Julie had to go and get a big fat crush on one of those idiots, and THEN that same idiot got himself kidnapped by an evil ghost magician. God, Flynn is so pissed at all of them.

And sure, as she’s gotten to know them, Flynn’s opinion of The Phantoms has gone up. They’re kind, and funny, and they all care deeply about Julie. Luke cares a little differently, obviously (and he _sacrificed himself for her,_ and Flynn will never be able to repay him), but Flynn can see that the whole complicated situation is eating him up the most out of anyone. And Julie’s face when she first told Flynn what happened to him has kept her up at night, recently, and Flynn suspects this might be more than a crush. 

And now there’s ANOTHER ghost, and he apparently told them that Caleb was somehow _draining Luke’s energy into the Hollywood Ghost Club_ (what) and Luke was going to _disappear forever_ (WHAT). 

Oh yeah, and Julie probably has ghost powers. 

But all of that is pretty scary, so Flynn would rather just stay mad. 

She’s in the Molina’s backyard with Julie and Alex and Reggie, although they’re not playing any music so she can’t see either of the boys. Carrying on a conversation is a little tricky, but Julie relays anything important, and sometimes Alex texts her when he wants to make fun of Reggie, so Flynn feels like a part of the group (it warms her heart more than she’d like to admit). They’re theoretically “mastering their sick ghost powers” (per Reggie), but so far it isn’t going very well. 

Flynn decided someone should film their efforts, so they have a record they can use to figure out what works and what doesn’t. She dug out one of Ray’s old handheld camcorders from the Molina’s attic (don’t want to risk any ghost footage getting uploaded to the cloud, and fuck those Silicon Valley tech bros anyway), and she’s currently filming Julie’s attempt to levitate one of Carlos’s soccer balls. The ball isn’t moving.

“Hey Jules? Do we even know if levitation is a power you could have?” asks Flynn from the sidelines. 

“I don’t know, Flynn! It just seemed like a good place to start.” Julie pauses and rolls her eyes. “Sure, Reggie, just like _Poltergeist._ ” Suddenly, Ray’s car alarm goes off and then quickly stops again. “Ooh, nice job, Alex!” Flynn’s phone buzzes in her pocket, and she pulls it out to check her texts. 

**Dumbass Caspers**  
_If only Caleb’s biggest weakness was car alarms. – Alex_

Flynn smiles. “The alarm is just the beginning Alex. Next step: the entire car! Soon you’ll be controlling planes, trains, and automobiles!”

“Don’t say that Flynn, you’re stressing him out,” admonishes Julie. “Don’t worry, Alex. No one is expecting you to control a plane.” She pauses again. “And Reggie says he loves that movie.” 

“Of course you do, because you’re _old._ ” teases Flynn. Her phone buzzes again. 

**Dumbass Caspers**  
_Shut up, we’re_ cultured _– Alex_

And Flynn is glad they’re getting a chance to joke around, because they’ve all been so sad and stressed. With good reason! Flynn’s worried too. But it just seems _wrong_ for Reggie and Alex to be so subdued. And Julie deserves to let go of some of the tension she’s been carrying since that day at school. Flynn doesn’t like thinking about Julie’s face when she told her about kissing Luke and then losing him. Her best friend looked…heartbroken. They have to get that idiot ghost boy back, because Julie’s never allowed to look like that again. 

And to do that, they have to figure out these ghost powers. 

“What if you just like, hugged them again?” asks Flynn. 

“No, I don’t think that’s all it is. Otherwise wouldn’t Luke have been okay after we…in the school?” And crap, Flynn hadn’t meant to make Julie think about that again. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Ugh, why isn’t there a handbook for this?” exclaims Flynn in exasperation. Her phone buzzes again. 

**Dumbass Caspers**  
_That’s what I said! – Alex_

“Alex, you really don’t have to sign your name after every text, I know it’s you,” says Flynn with a roll of her eyes. Julie laughs. 

“Reggie says he’s offended you think he wouldn’t text you.” 

“Oh I know he would text me, I just think the amount of nonsense would clue me in that it wasn’t Alex.” A handful of grass flies at her face out of nowhere. Flynn splutters, picking grass out of her braids. “Hey! I worked hard on my hair today!” 

“Okay, break it up, break it up,” laughs Julie. Then she tilts her head, a clear sign she’s listening to one of the boys. She listens for a long moment, deep in thought. “Maybe, Reg. It’s worth a shot.” And Julie reaches out her hands, presumably towards Reggie and Alex. And damn, watching your best friend hold hands with invisible ghosts never gets any less weird. 

But then all of a sudden there’s a shift in the air, like electricity, or a change in pressure (or, thinks Flynn, the feeling you get right before a concert, when the whole crowd is holding their breath, waiting for the music to start). And then Flynn almost drops the camera. Because for just a second, Flynn can _see the boys._ Alex and Reggie are right there, holding Julie’s hands and concentrating. 

“HOLY SHIT!” she yells without thinking. Julie starts, dropping the boys’ hands, and they vanish again. “I could see them! Julie, I could see them!!!” 

“Oh my god, OH MY GOD!” And now they’re both jumping up and down, yelling incoherently. Flynn gets another text. 

**Dumbass Caspers**  
_AL;DAOIHGAIFHALKSFJ IM A GENIUS – REGGIE_

“Julie, what did you do? What was Reggie’s idea?” Julie takes a deep breath, collecting herself. 

“Reggie pointed out that the first time, we were all on the same page. We all wanted the boys to stay. But then this time, Luke…he thought he was protecting us, by leaving. So he didn’t, um, want to come home. Or get rid of the stamp.” And Julie looks sad again, _damn it_. 

“Well, we’ll just have to knock some ghost sense into him then,” says Flynn bracingly. Then she realizes something. “Wait, what were you all thinking about just now?” Julie smiles, but her eyes stay serious and focused. It’s kind of intimidating, honestly, which is not a word Flynn tends to use to describe Julie. 

“We were thinking about destroying Caleb.” 

“That’s my girl.” Flynn positions the camera again, and says, “Okay, Caspers and Julie. Let’s get to work.” 

They spend the next hour and a half testing the limits of their abilities. They determine that really strong emotions work the best, which Flynn supposes makes sense. They also determine that while they can’t levitate anything, they can make Flynn feel _super weird,_ which has to be something, right? 

Suddenly Julie’s eyes go wide.

“Willie! Is Luke okay? Did you find anything?” And Flynn puts her phone in her back pocket, knowing she’s not going to be getting any more texts for a while. Because Alex is honestly pretty useless when Willie’s around (she can’t see them at the moment, but Flynn is sure they’re being cute. She’s rooting for them). Julie’s face turns more and more serious, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “How much longer do you think he has?” _Oh shit._ Julie takes a deep breath, shaking herself a little. “Okay, well, we think we figured out a bit more about our powers.” And Julie proceeds to fill Willie in on the progress of the afternoon. Willie is clearly filling Julie in on some things as well, but Flynn supposes she’ll just have to wait. “Okay, be careful, I’ll see you later.” And Flynn has the always surreal experience of watching her friend hug air. 

“Did the guys poof out?”

“Yeah, they’re going to the library again, checking up on some stuff about Caleb’s history. Willie thinks that Caleb has attached his soul to the club, kind of like how the guys are attached to their instruments, or Willie is attached to his skateboard. So maybe if we’re able to break his connection to the club, that could help us get rid of him.” 

“That’s actually a pretty smart plan, I’m glad at least ONE of these ghost boys has more than one braincell. I’ll do some more sleuthing on the internet, now that we have a better idea what we’re looking for.” Flynn pauses, but she can’t help herself. “What did he say about Luke? Is he okay?” Julie slumps a little, and Flynn immediately feels bad for asking. 

“I don’t know. He said he’s looking weaker, but he hasn’t gotten to talk to him again yet. And Caleb is still…bothering him.” Flynn puts her arm around Julie, pulling her close. 

“Is Willie going to tell Luke what’s really going on?” she asks gently. 

“No, I made him promise not to.” says Julie. “It won’t do any good, and Luke will just worry.” Julie takes a breath and sets her jaw. “And besides, I don’t want him any more stubborn than he already will be about accepting our help.” _Stubborn is one way to put it,_ thinks Flynn, _self-sacrificial lovesick idiocy is another._

___________________________

Willie has been monitoring Luke in the club for a few days now, but he hasn’t gotten to actually talk to him again since that first time. But Caleb has left on some mysterious club business, so Willie makes a beeline for the ballroom.

And Luke looks…bad, to be honest. He hasn’t wanted to make Alex, Julie, and Reggie worry any more than they already are, but Luke is looking weaker every day. 

“Hey man, how’s it going?” he says, putting a hand on Luke’s arm. Luke jumps only a little, and his eyes take an extra second to focus. _That’s not good._

“Willie, hey! Where have you been?”

“At Julie’s, actually.” Luke’s eyes widen, and he grabs Willie by both shoulders. 

“Why? Is she okay? Did Caleb do something to her?”

“Relax, she’s fine. Alex and Reggie too. But we’re working on a plan, Luke. I told you, we’re going to get you home.”

“What?! No, Willie, you can’t let them! It’s not safe. I’m fine here, I’m _fine._ They have to stay safe, _they have to._ ” 

“Luke, I wouldn’t let them do anything unsafe, I promise. But I don’t think I’d be able to stop them anyway, they’re all pretty determined.” Luke lets go of him and nods, shakily, clenching his jaw. Then he takes a deep breath, and seems to relax a bit. 

“So you got to talk to Alex?” asks Luke, in a tone that is much too innocent for Willie’s comfort. Willie narrows his eyes and just nods. Luke smirks. “Did you kiss him yet?” Willie chokes on air and starts coughing, but Luke just laughs at him (and okay, maybe his extreme embarrassment is worth it to hear Luke sound a bit like his old self). 

“No! No. I uh…no.” Willie takes a deep breath. “Besides, I don’t know if he’d even want me to.” 

“Trust me, bro: he wants you to.” And yeah, Willie had been pretty sure, but it’s nice to hear Luke say it. Still. 

“I don’t deserve him, after…after everything.” Willie whispers, unable to stop himself from glancing at the stamp on Luke’s forearm. Luke turns serious. 

“Willie, you know Alex doesn’t blame you for that, right? None of us do. It was Caleb’s fault, not yours.” Willie smiles, just a little bit. 

“That’s what Julie said,” he says. Luke smiles, but it looks far away. 

“Well, she’s usually right.” He’s lost in thought for a minute, when Willie speaks up again. 

“The same goes for you, you know.”

“What?” says Luke, turning back towards him. 

“It’s not your fault either. None of it is. I head what Caleb’s been saying to you, and it’s not true. You can’t listen to him.” Luke’s whole expression shutters. 

“That’s different.” And he starts to move away, but Willie grabs his arm, stopping him. 

“They don’t blame you, okay? They love you. They want you to be alright.” 

“Well, tell them not to worry. I’m fine.” Looking at Luke’s pale face, Willie is not convinced, and he almost breaks his promise to Julie to not tell him about Caleb draining his power into the club. But he knows that Julie is right, and Luke will only dig his heals in if he knows that added level of danger his friends will be facing when they try to save him. They really do have to hurry, and he can’t take any more time arguing with Luke about his own rescue. _Shit, how does Alex put up with this idiot? He’s exhausting._

But they’re going to save Luke’s self-sacrificing ass whether he likes it or not. No matter how exhausting he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeaaaaah I continue to struggle with ghost power logic so I decided to just make it really sappy. Sorry!
> 
> Also Luke maintains his status as #1 Willex stan. He and Willie are BROS and it is IMPORTANT TO ME. 
> 
> As always, thank you all for reading, idk what I'm doing, why are you all still here, love you all, etc etc. 
> 
> Oh also you can find me on tumblr under the same username. It's essentially just all Juke all the time over there rn.


	7. Interlude: Caleb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb is feeling pretty pleased with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short mini-update to check back in with this absolute asshole.

Caleb Covington is on a roll. His plan had worked perfectly, and Luke Patterson was now steadily draining away into the Hollywood Ghost Club. 

He can’t believe he thought Luke might be a difficult target: he bought that lie about there being “more power if he came willingly” hook, line, and sinker. The kid is _weak_ when it comes to his friends, and he doesn’t even realize it. The whole thing was almost too easy. 

And he doesn’t even know what’s really being done to him, so Caleb is free to…speed up the process, as it were. Those old interviews with the one surviving band member had been SO helpful, and Caleb has really quite enjoyed poking at Luke’s guilt. He almost thinks he’ll miss it. 

But then, he supposes, he’ll just move on to one of the other boys. They should prove equally as entertaining. 

For now, though... His eyes scan around the ballroom, and he spots Luke near the stage, sweeping away debris left from the performance the night before. As he watches, Luke stumbles and leans heavily on the back of a chair. Any day now, then, and he’ll be rid of that insolent child forever. He’s about to make his way down the stairs to hasten the inevitable, when someone calls his name. 

It’s Willie, again. The boy has tended a bit towards pestering, recently, and it’s starting to get on Caleb’s nerves. Though he supposes it’s good that Willie is taking an interest in the club again. Loyalty is important, and Caleb was concerned that the incident with Alex had distracted Willie for good. 

“William! What seems to be the trouble?” 

“Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were feeling okay. I know using the other stamp can be tiring.” 

“It’s kind of you to worry, William. But I’ll be fine in a few days. Nothing a little R&R can’t fix.” He pats Willie on the shoulder, smiling at him. _A good boy, really._ “Was there anything else?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if you were going to perform any of your classic tricks soon? It’s always the most popular performance, and you haven’t done them in so long.” And that’s actually…not a bad idea. They are always a crowd pleaser, and it’s always nice to get back to his roots. Plus, what better celebration of his success in wiping Luke Patterson out of existence? 

“You know what? Maybe I will. Thank you, William.” And Willie just nods, makes his excuses, and leaves the club, his skateboard under his arm. Turning back to the ballroom, Caleb doesn’t see Luke anymore. _No matter, he’s fading quickly enough._

And if Caleb was paying better attention (and if he was slightly less self-absorbed), he might have realized that Willie often turned up with questions right before he went to go find Luke. 

And he might have noticed that Willie seemed more interested in certain aspects of the club than others. 

And he might have noticed that Willie sometimes forgot his helmet when he left the club, almost as if he wasn’t actually going skating. 

And he might have felt a concentration of energy around the residence of one Julie Molina. 

But Caleb was much too pleased with his apparent success to notice any of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I actually did plan that the "more power if you come willingly" thing was going to be a lie from the beginning, but I also enjoyed poking fun at my own inconsistent ghost power logic. *shrug emoji* 
> 
> Did anyone else never emotionally recover from the whole "Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty to his friends" thing in PJO? Just me? Okay.


	8. Chapter 6: Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke's friends help him quit his job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's destroy Caleb time! Finally! This unfortunately also means we get a lot of Caleb being emotionally manipulative and terrible in this chapter, and there's also a mention of the death of Julie's mom. So heads up for that.

Luke is really tired of feeling tired. Sure, he’s needed some amount of sleep since the Orpheum, but he doesn’t think he used to feel like he needed it this much. But these days he constantly feels like he’s about to fall over. He almost did yesterday (or maybe two days go? Three? How long has he even been here?), and all he was doing was _sweeping._ It’s fucking pathetic. 

Dante has him on napkin duty today, which basically means multiple hours of folding tiny-ass squares of cloth into tiny-ass fancy shapes. Luke hates it. And all the chairs are off in storage somewhere, so he can’t even fucking _sit down._

There’s a flurry of activity near the entrance to the ballroom, but Luke doesn’t pay it much attention. Probably a new famous lifer guest or something, and Caleb never wants him to help with those. He goes back to folding napkins, too tired to spare any energy for the rest of the club. 

Suddenly two hands grab the sides of his face, pulling his gaze away from his ever-growing pile of misshapen napkins. 

“Luke? Luke, look at me! Come on, Luke, come back to me. Guys, he’s over here!” And he doesn’t understand, because that sounds like _Julie,_ and Julie isn’t here, not really. 

Maybe he’s still asleep, in that horrible cold little room. He’s dreamed about Julie more often than he’d like to admit, since he’s been here. Usually nightmares, where she’s in trouble or hurt, or Caleb has taken her somewhere and he can’t save her. But good dreams too, sometimes, where they play music together, or sit together quietly on the studio couch, or where she just smiles at him. Maybe this is the start of one of the good ones. 

But she’s still talking, and her voice is getting more frantic the longer he takes to respond, and Luke realizes that her hands are _warm._ And she’s never warm, in the dreams. 

_”Julie?”_ His voice sounds hoarse and unfamiliar, but it does the trick. She visibly relaxes, whispering _oh thank god_ and pulls him into a hug. And with no conscious input from his brain, he hugs her back, so tightly he’s almost worried he might hurt her. But she doesn’t seem to mind, and Luke feels a part of him settle for the first time in what feels like forever. 

And then Julie is pulling back and he almost panics ( _don’t go don’t go don’t go_ ), but Alex and Reggie are there too and they’re all hugging him and _fuck_ he missed them. He missed them so damn much. They finally let go and Luke is just staring at all of them, trying to soak in their presence and convince himself that they’re really here, when he flinches with a full-body shiver. Julie puts her hand on his bare arm and says,

“Luke, you’re freezing. What happened to your flannel?” And that’s a good question. Where is his flannel? He hasn’t seen it in a while. Maybe it’s in his room, but he’s not sure. Everything feels sort of hazy. 

“I…don’t know.” His voice still sounds weak and disconnected. 

“Jesus,” mutters Alex under his breath, “we can’t take you anywhere. Here, put this on.” And before Luke can protest Alex is pulling off his pink hoodie and shoving it down over his head. He sluggishly puts his arms through the sleeves and pulls it down and it helps, a little. 

But now that he’s warmer his brain starts moving a little faster and the reality of the situation hits him all at once. 

“Wait a minute, what the fuck are you all doing here? How did you even get inside?” says Luke, trying (and failing) not the panic. 

“Willie snuck us in through a back entrance while Caleb was prepping for the performance tonight,” replies Reggie, as if that’s a totally reasonable thing to have done (it’s not, it’s insane and reckless, and that’s coming from Luke). 

“Get back to the studio, now! What if Caleb comes back? What were you thinking?” And he’s whisper yelling now, feeling more of his strength come back as he warms up. 

“Ah, there’s the Luke we know and love,” says Alex sarcastically, “totally ungrateful. We’re getting you out of here, dude. Didn’t Willie tell you?” And shit, he did. But Luke thought they’d reached an agreement to keep their friends out of it! Keep them safe!

“Well yeah, but I told him to tell you not to come!”

“That was your first mistake,” says Reggie, “you know we’re no good at following directions.” 

“And as for Caleb coming back,” chimes in Julie, “that’s kind of what we’re counting on. We’re going to take him down.” And okay, his friends have officially _lost their fucking minds._

“WHAT?!?! Jules, that’s insane. That’s insane!” He whirls on Reggie and Alex. “How could you let her come here? It’s not safe for her! It’s not safe for ANY of you!” Reggie puts his hands up in surrender, but Alex just rolls his eyes. Then Julie cuts in. 

“First of all, they didn’t ‘let me’ do anything, Luke, this plan was my idea. And we all need to be here. We’ve been working out what we can do, and we’re more powerful than Caleb realizes.” 

“I don’t care how powerful you think you are, it’s too dangerous.” He and Julie are right in each other’s faces now, and he can see she’s already a bit mad at him, but he’s too terrified for her to care. “You have to go home. I made the deal, it’s done. It’s all my fault anyway.” And _shit_ that last bit slipped out before he realized what he was saying. Julie’s expression softens. 

“No, it’s not, Luke. It’s not your fault,” she says gently. 

“Yes, it is.”

“No!” God damn it, she still isn’t _getting it._

“It is! You don’t understand. It _is_ my fault, all of it. If I hadn’t –“ 

“What if it were me?” interrupts Reggie, momentarily shocking Luke into silence. 

“What?”

“What if it were me, or Alex, or Julie? What if one of us had been the first to suggest we get street dogs, or any of the other things? Would you tell us it was our fault?” Luke’s (non-existent) stomach drops. 

“No, of course not.” 

“Right. So it’s not your fault either. Just let us help you, man! Please.” Luke can feel his resolve crumbling, and he’s just so _tired._ Julie slips her hand into his and squeezes. 

“Luke, trust me,” she says softly. And shit, what is he supposed to say to that? He takes a deep breath. 

“Okay, okay. So what’s the plan?” He’s still not fully on board, and he thinks they can tell, but it doesn’t look like they’re going to push him on it at the moment. Besides, he can always figure something else out if it comes to that. Distract Caleb, sneak his friends out of the club, _something._

(But, almost against his will, Reggie’s words start to find their way into his heart. _What if it were me?_ )

“We found out that Caleb is connected to the club,” starts Alex. 

“Um, yeah, I thought we knew that already,” says Luke, probably more combative than he needs to be. Alex rolls his eyes again and Julie cuts in, gentle but firm. 

“No, Luke. Like his soul is attached to something here. Like you’re attached to your guitar.” And while that’s very interesting, Luke’s not sure how it helps them. 

“So what?” he says. 

“So, we think if we can find whatever that thing is, we can destroy it and Caleb will be destroyed too,” explains Julie. Luke still isn’t convinced. 

“But how do we do that?”

“Well, we figured it has to be something from when Caleb was alive, so Willie convinced him to bring out some of his old tricks so he could look –“ 

“No, I mean how do we destroy it?” asks Luke, really wanting to avoid thinking about Willie sneaking around somewhere dangerous. 

“How indeed, Luke.” And _fuck_ that’s _Caleb._ They all turn towards him. “Oh, don’t stop on my account. I’m very interested in where this little conversation is going.” 

And Luke just…freezes. His brain is screaming at him to move, to stand in front of his friends, to tell them to run, to do something, _anything,_ to protect them. But he can’t. It’s like his feet are glued to the floor, and his whole body feels cold. 

Julie grabs Luke’s hand and pulls him behind her, Alex and Reggie standing on either side and blocking him from Caleb. 

“You have brave friends, Luke. Although I guess they’d have to be, if they’re still willing to spend time with you, after all the times you’ve gotten them into so much trouble.”

“Don’t talk to him like that,” says Reggie, in a voice far angrier than Luke has heard from him in a long time. 

“Oh Reginald, I’m just speaking the truth! I’ve learned so much about Mr. Patterson here since he’s been an employee at my club.” Caleb is smiling that creepy smile that makes Luke’s skin crawl. 

“You don’t know shit about him,” yells Alex, taking a step forward. Luke tries to reach for him, whispering, _Alex, don’t,_ but Alex doesn’t seem to hear him. Julie grips his hand tighter, as if worried he’ll run. 

“Calm down, Alex, I’m not here to argue with a bunch of children,” says Caleb with a scoff. 

“So why _are_ you here then?” asks Julie. “Don’t you have a club to run?” Caleb’s eyes snap to her and narrow, and Luke’s mind goes blank with terror. _She can’t be here she can’t be here she CAN’T BE HERE._

“My dear Julie. You didn’t think I was going to let you three just break into my club and do nothing about it, did you?” And Luke is fully panicking now, but when he turns to Julie to tell her to run, she’s smiling. 

“No. We were counting on it actually. It gave Willie time to get that.” Julie points behind Caleb at the stage. And sure enough, there’s Willie, looking deadly serious, and holding, of all things, a top hat. It’s not the one Caleb usually wears (and a part of Luke’s brain is so pissed that he knows enough about Caleb’s wardrobe to notice that), and Luke _really_ doesn’t understand what’s going on. 

“William, what are you doing?” snaps Caleb. And when Luke looks at Caleb’s face, he’s wearing an expression that Luke has never seen before. He looks angry, sure. He looks angrier than Luke has ever seen him. But he also looks _afraid,_ just a bit. Then Willie’s voice rings out across the ballroom. 

“Something that someone should have done a long time ago, Caleb. We’re cutting you loose.” And Caleb _snarls,_ lunging towards the stage, and Willie takes a step back. 

“What do you know about it? What do ANY of you know about it? You think that just because you can do a few skateboard tricks, or play music for lifers, you understand POWER? You’re NOTHING without me. And YOU.” He turns back towards Julie, and Luke pulls her closer into his side as Alex and Reggie move together to act as a human (ghost?) shield. “You think you have power. But do you even know where it came from?” Caleb laughs, and it sounds a bit manic. Luke flinches at the sound. “You were with your mother when she died, weren’t you?” Julie’s eyes go wide. 

“How…how do you know that?” she whispers. Caleb laughs again. 

“It’s obvious. Being that close to death, it always…shows. You just got luckier than most in the side effects department, Ms. Molina. You should be grateful.” Julie is shrinking further and further into herself and yeah, Luke hates Caleb for a lot of reasons, but he probably hates him for this the most. 

“Leave her alone, Caleb.” He wishes his voice sounded a little stronger, but Julie shoots him a thankful look anyway. 

“Well look at that. Luke can speak after all. Impressive display of backbone in front of the lady here, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve served your purpose, and it’s about time I got rid of you.” Caleb raises his fingers, and Luke flinches in anticipation the incoming jolt, but it never happens. 

“I don’t think so, Caleb.” And Willie is suddenly right next to Alex, holding his hand. “You’re done.” And Julie puts their joined hands on the hat and Luke feels this _power_ and _holy shit._ Caleb stumbles. 

“Oh my god it’s working!” says Reggie in an extremely loud whisper. 

“Focus, everyone,” says Julie urgently, “remember we all have to want the same thing. Focus on destroying it.” And Luke still doesn’t really get it, but those instructions seem easy enough to follow. He tries to concentrate on destroying the hat. 

“Don’t do this, Luke,” grits out Caleb from his place hunched over a table. Luke’s attention snaps to him with wide eyes. Caleb’s face looks completely different than it had a minute ago when he was threatening Luke’s (after)life. Now he almost looks…pleading, kind. “Don’t you want to protect your friends?”

“What?” says Luke, his voice small. 

“I know you don’t like me, but I’ve kept your friends safe, haven’t I? Without me keeping you here, how long before it all falls apart? How long before you make a mistake so big they can’t come back from it?” Caleb has fallen all the way to the floor, now, but his voice feels like it’s flooding Luke’s entire brain. His ears are ringing, but he still remembers Reggie’s voice saying _What if it were me?_

“No they don’t…they don’t blame me.” His own voice sounds strange in his ears, quiet and weak. Caleb looks at him with pity. 

“Oh Luke, of course they don’t. They’re such good people after all, they would never blame you.” And Luke hunches into Alex’s sweatshirt, trying to drown in it, trying to stay warm. “But don’t you see, Luke, that’s why you can’t destroy me. I need to keep you _here,_ so you can’t hurt them.” And Luke’s head is spinning and he’s so cold and he’s so _tired_ and he just wants his friends to be okay. But he can’t stop looking at Caleb, and Caleb says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “They’re better off without you.” 

And _fuck_ Luke almost believes it. He knows Caleb is a liar, he _knows that,_ but at the same time everything he’s saying is making a strange amount of sense, and he’s so close to pulling his hand back and pushing his friends away forever when Julie’s voice cuts through his spiraling thoughts. She’s straining, like something is holding her voice back (and knowing Caleb, something probably is). 

“Luke, don’t listen to him. I told you: we make each other better. We need you.” And he looks at her, and it’s really not the point, but god damn it she’s just so _pretty_ it always stops him for a second. Shaking himself, he keeps his hand on the hat, and focuses. 

He feels that surge of power again, but for a second nothing else happens. Then there’s a sound like shattering glass, and Caleb is just…gone. Vanished. Evaporated. And after all the stress, and the pain, and the fear, it’s almost anticlimactic. Luke feels like this should have been more difficult. But then he almost collapses, and Alex has to catch him before he hits the floor, so maybe it was plenty difficult after all. 

“I’m never letting my bass out of my sight again,” says Reggie, and Julie lets out a nervous laugh. 

“Don’t worry Reg, it’s not the same. Caleb put too much of his soul into the club, so he was stretched thin already,” says Willie. “Besides, I’m still not sure you all understand how powerful you all are. Not everyone could do that.” 

“Luke? Are you okay?” asks Alex, still supporting him in case he starts to collapse again. But Luke is just staring at his own arm. His _stamp free_ arm. 

“It’s…it’s gone. It’s gone!” And Julie is hugging him, and then so are Alex and Reggie and even Willie (oh right, Willie is free now too), and there are tears on his face and he’s not sure if they’re his or someone else’s but he supposes it doesn’t really matter. _He’s free._ Julie pulls back, and he feels the loss of her immediately. Before he can second guess himself, he grabs her hand and squeezes. She squeezes back. 

“Come on, let’s go home,” she says. _Home,_ he gets to go _home._

“Take care guys, I’ll see you all tomorrow,” says Willie, and Alex freezes. 

“You’re not coming with us?” asks Alex nervously. 

“Not yet, Hotdog. There’s a lot to figure out here, with Caleb gone. Gotta do some damage control. But I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, I promise.” And then, to Luke’s absolute delight, Willie kisses Alex on the cheek, and Alex turns bright red. Willie just smiles, and turns back to the rest of them. “Glad you’re okay, Patterson. Don’t get into any more trouble.” 

“I’ll try. Thanks, Willie,” says Luke seriously, and he hopes Willie can tell how much he means it, and how grateful he is. Willie just nods at him, throws one last smirk at Alex, and turns and walks towards the back rooms of the club. Alex is still standing frozen, although his cheeks are slowly returning to their normal color. 

“Alright, let’s get Alex out of here before he passes out,” says Reggie. “I think we could all use a nap.” And yeah, a nap sounds pretty good. The adrenaline is wearing off, and he can feel the exhaustion set back in. Julie tugs on his hand, and he turns towards her. 

“Hey, are you really okay?” she asks softly, just to him. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. Let’s go home.” And he smiles, just to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pretends that Caleb's death being anticlimactic is some sort of thematic statement and not merely the fact that I struggled writing it*
> 
> ANYWAY. 
> 
> It was very important to me that Luke reject (or at least start to reject) Caleb's lies and also help destroy him. Hence: angst. 
> 
> Thanks, as always, for sticking with me. One more chapter and then an epilogue!


	9. Chapter 7: Julie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie takes a nap, talks to her dad, and gets to spend some quality time with a certain ghost guitarist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They all finally get to REST, thank goodness. Also return of Ray Molina, the real MPV.

When they get back to the studio, they pull the couch out into a bed and collapse onto it in a pile. Julie doesn’t think any of them could handle being apart right now. Luke certainly can’t: he’s been gripping her hand since before they even left the club, and he keeps occasionally tapping Alex and Reggie on the arm or the shoulder, as if reassuring himself that they’re really there. 

But they’re all exhausted. Luke falls asleep first, for which Julie is relieved. She was worried he might not be able to relax enough to get the rest he so clearly needs. But he buries his face in her neck and her hair and is out almost before she’s settled in herself. Reggie is next, curled around Luke on the other side, his arm around his brother, finally seeming centered for the first time in weeks. Alex and Julie lie awake for a while, Julie with her arm around Luke’s shoulders, and Alex slightly propped up on the head of the bed on her other side. He’s periodically running his hand through Luke’s hair and rubbing Julie’s back. And while it’s extremely comforting, Julie can practically hear him thinking too hard. 

“Alex, what’s wrong?” she asks quietly, careful not to wake their sleeping friends. 

“What? Oh, nothing. Nothing’s wrong.” He’s too tired to be any good at lying, and Julie would laugh if she weren’t also worried about him. 

“Willie will be fine, Alex. Caleb’s gone, you saw it. Willie will come find you tomorrow.” Alex smiles ruefully, and Julie knows she’s hit the nail on the head when it comes to what’s bothering him. 

“Yeah, I know that up here,” Alex points to his head, and then taps his chest, “…just not in here yet, I guess. I’ll feel better when we see him tomorrow.” 

“You will, Alex. Willie cares about you, and he’s going to be okay.” Alex smiles softly. 

“Thanks, Julie. Now go to sleep.”

“You first,” grumbles Julie, and Alex lets out a soft laugh. But soon his head tips forward, and he’s out too. Julie lies awake for a few minutes more, soaking in the fact that Luke is _here_ and he’s _safe_ and Reggie and Alex are okay too. Even Willie is free from the club now, with Caleb gone. And content in that knowledge, Julie finally falls asleep. 

It’s hours later (though it seems like minutes to Julie), that her eyes fly open at the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat. Thankfully the boys seem to be heavier sleepers than she is, and they don’t even stir. 

Slowly Julie turns towards the sound, and freezes when her eyes land on her father, standing with his arms folded and a confused expression on his face. And while she’s panicking, trying to figure out how completely weird her sleeping position looks, and if her arm looks like it’s floating in the air, her dad says something completely unexpected. 

“Mija, when did your band get here?” and Julie’s brain completely shuts down. Because, honestly, _what? How can he see them?_ “Julie?” Oh, crap, she still hasn’t answered him. 

“Um, what?” _Ugh, nicely done, Julie._ Her dad takes in the scene again, softening a little as he looks at Luke, presumably remembering their earlier conversation and taking in the bags that are still clearly visible under his eyes, and the way his fists are clenched tightly in front of him. 

“Meet me in the kitchen and I’ll make us some coffee. And then you’re going to tell me what’s going on.” Ray Molina’s voice is kind, but Julie also knows there’s no way she’s getting out of this conversation. And well, if her dad can see the boys now, maybe it’s time to tell him the full truth anyway. 

So Julie carefully extracts herself from the pile on the pull-out couch (Alex has slid down in his sleep, and has his arm thrown across her waist. He’s surprisingly difficult to dislodge) and follows her father into the house. 

They sit and drink their coffee for a minute, until Ray says, “Okay, mija. Tell me what’s been going on.” And Julie takes a deep breath. _Now or never, right?_

“Remember when I said I saw a ghost in the studio?” deciding she might as well start from the beginning. Her dad’s eyes widen as she tells the whole complicated story, but she supposes the obvious presence of the boys in the garage has convinced him to hear her out. She’s just getting to when they finally figured out a plan to get rid of Caleb when the back door bursts open, and Luke comes barreling into the kitchen. 

He’s still wearing Alex’s pink sweatshirt, and his hair is going in every direction. His eyes are huge and frantic, and he rushes over to her with his hands reaching out to grab her face before he registers Ray’s presence and thinks better of it. She looks at him questioningly and he gulps and says in a hoarse voice

“I woke up and you were gone and I forgot…where I was, for a second, and I just—” 

“Julie!” Alex comes through the door next, Reggie right on his heels, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “I’m so sorry he woke up and he couldn’t find you and he wouldn’t believe me that you were just in the kitchen and I _told_ him not to interrupt your talk with your dad but he never _listens_ to me and—” 

“Would any of you boys like some coffee?” interrupts Ray, and all three of them freeze in horror. Alex blinks rapidly, Reggie goes completely still, and Luke drops her hand (when had he taken her hand?) like it’s burned him. _Well that’s silly._ She grabs his hand again, and he shoots her a nervous look, glancing towards her dad. Julie decides to take pity on them. 

“It’s okay. I told him the truth. He could see you when he came into the garage this morning looking for me. I don’t know why.” She tried to sound reassuring, but all three boys still look at bit terrified. 

“Mr. Molina, sir,” starts Alex, “we’re really sorry. We weren’t trying to trespass, or anything. We just…we used to practice here? In your garage? But we can go. If you want. We don’t want to inconvenience you or put you out or anything.” Her dad puts up his hands, stopping Alex’s spiral. 

“Alex. It is Alex, right? The drummer?” Alex nods stiffly. “I’m not kicking you out. You boys are more than welcome to stay here, it’s your home. You’re welcome to some coffee or some toast too, but Julie says you don’t eat?” All three boys silently shake their heads. “Well, more coffee for Julie and me, then. Would you like to join us for breakfast anyway?” And Julie knows she’s probably biased, but she thinks she had the best dad in the world. 

It’s the beginning of another period of readjustment for all of them, as the boys had become so used to being invisible. They discover that Carlos and Flynn can see them too, but no one else. Carlos is of course thrilled, and he and Reggie have to be stopped from pulling too many pranks on people (especially Tia Victoria). Flynn transitions seamlessly from texting the boys to talking to them in person, although she privately confesses to Julie how much it means to her to be able to see them all the time now. 

And all three eventually warm up to her dad, although Luke takes the longest. But when Julie thinks about his past experiences with adults, from his parents in 1995 to Caleb in 2020, she supposes it makes sense. Once, when she asks him about it after band practice, Reggie starts to say something about _another_ reason Luke might be nervous around her dad, but Luke hits him on the arm before he can explain any further. 

Then about two weeks after they defeat Caleb, Julie walks into the kitchen and finds her dad cooking dinner, and Luke sitting at the island with his songwriting notebook, both of them softly singing along to what she recognizes as an old playlist of her mom’s. Luke lifts his head and smiles at her when she walks in, and her dad just winks. Julie sits next to Luke with her math homework, and they all go back to their respective tasks, occasionally humming along to whatever song is playing. It’s a small moment, but it means a lot to Julie (although she’s trying to not think too hard about why). 

They do eventually explain to Luke how Caleb was using the stamp to drain him at the club, and he briefly gets angry with them again for putting themselves in danger on his behalf. But they manage to talk him down, and Julie thinks that each time they have to do it, it’s getting a little easier to remind him that they care about him and that he’s worth it. It does lead to a resurgence of Luke not wanting to let any of them out of his sight, but Julie would be lying if she said she minded (and besides, she doesn’t like letting _him_ out of _her_ sight either). 

Willie starts hanging around the house a lot more too, although Julie is still the only lifer who can see him. The Hollywood Ghost Club is under new management, and Julie asks Willie if he’s going to be one of the people in charge. 

“Nah,” he says, laughing, “I’ve got other ways I’d rather spend my time.” And he’s blatantly staring at Alex, who’s blushing again. A few days later they go on their first official date, and Alex comes home with an incredibly goofy expression, completely impervious to Luke and Reggie’s teasing. 

And Julie is so happy for them. She is! It’s just…

They haven’t talked about the kiss. Luke hasn’t brought it up, and _she_ certainly isn’t going to. He’s still recovering from his time at the club, after all. He’s a little jumpy, a little tired, and she doesn’t want to push him. But she can’t help worrying. 

Flynn tells her that’s stupid. 

“That boy would literally die for you if he weren’t already dead,” she admonishes. 

“But Flynn, he’s like that with everybody. He’s just generally overprotective.” She’s at Flynn’s house, lying on her friend’s bed with her face buried in a pillow. 

“You forget I was there for the little incident where you were late coming home from school and he hugged you for ten minutes.” 

“It wasn’t ten minutes,” mumbles Julie as she rolls over onto her back.

“Not the point, Jules! I’m telling you; he likes you so much, he’s probably just worried about messing it up or something.” 

“Well that’s silly. It’s just me!” Julie says, feeling exasperated. Flynn thinks for a minute. 

“Have you written together since he’s been back?” Julie shakes her head. “See if he wants to work on a song or something. Maybe that will help you both relax, this is getting exhausting.” Flynn flops down next to her on the bed. 

“I thought you didn’t approve of Luke. I have a very clear memory of you telling me he’s made of air.”

“Yeah, but that was then. He’s less air now, isn’t he? And I saw how upset you were when he was gone,” continues Flynn gently. “You really care about him, Jules, and he really cares about you too. You both just have to let yourselves be happy.” Flynn takes a deep breath and seems to be gearing herself up for something. “Besides, he saved your life. I kind of owe him.” Julie puts her arm around her friend (though it’s a little difficult with them both lying on the bed) and pulls her close. 

“Thanks for helping us figure out how to get him back, Flynn,” she says. Flynn just nods, her eyes a little wet. They lie there quietly for a minute, before switching back to chatting about less heavy topics. 

But the next day, Julie can’t stop thinking about what Flynn said. She and Luke _haven’t_ done any writing since he’s been back. She knows he’s been writing in his notebook, but she realizes she doesn’t actually know if it’s songs. He could just be journaling or something. 

So she goes to find him in the studio when she knows Alex and Reggie are busy with other things, and before she can chicken out, just says,

“Hey, you want to write?” And his face splits into that grin that seems to take over his whole being, and she relaxes. Luke is her _friend,_ her best friend (other than Flynn, of course), and this doesn’t have to be weird. They do this all the time. There’s no reason she can’t make it through this without making a fool of herself. 

She’s still relieved when they slip easily into the rhythm of writing, and Luke seems like his old self for a while. Then something reminds Julie of a funny story about school, which reminds Luke of some trouble he and the boys got into in the 90s, and they fall into the rhythm of just talking. 

Later, songbooks long forgotten, Julie is regaling Luke with tales of their unsuccessful attempts to manage their ghost powers. She’s sitting sideways, legs crossed in front of her, while Luke sits next to her with his head resting on the back of the couch. He’s smiling softly while she talks, and absentmindedly playing with her fingers (it’s distracting). 

She’s in the middle of describing Alex’s horrified expression at the idea of controlling an airplane, when Luke’s eyes catch on something and he furrows his brow. 

“What’s that?” he says, reaching out with one finger to touch the button on her necklace. “You didn’t have that before.” And _oh no, this is embarrassing._

“Oh, this? It’s a button. Obviously. It’s your button, actually,” she stammers out. “I accidentally pulled it off your flannel shirt? And then later I found it in my sweatshirt pocket.” He still looks confused. 

“But why did you keep it? Why did you put it on your necklace?” _God, he’s so dumb sometimes._

“It helped me not completely freak out, I guess. Reminded me how important it was that we figure out how to save you. And I just…missed you,” she says softly, feeling awkward having to spell it out. God, he’s going to think she’s so weird. Who gets this emotionally attached to a button? 

But Luke is looking at her with an intense expression.

“I still can’t believe you did all of that, for me. You’re amazing, you know?” he whispers. She shrugs, suddenly feeling brave (and a little desperate). 

“Of course I did, Luke. I care about you. And I don’t want to make music with anyone but you.” She’s thinking about what he said to her after the Orpheum, and she wonders if he is too. Luke’s expression shifts again, and before she can begin to decipher what it means he’s leaning forward and reaching out his free hand to hold the side of her face and kissing her. 

And _oh thank god._ She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer and lets him gently push her back onto the couch. And then all she can feel are his lips on hers and his hand in her hair and she can’t believe they waited so long to do this again. 

They’re so wrapped up in each other that they don’t hear Reggie poof into the garage, but they _do_ hear him shout “HOLY SHIT, FINALLY!” and poof back out again. 

Luke pulls back and he looks so horrified that Julie can’t help but burst out laughing. Soon they’ve both dissolved into giggles, her head thrown back and Luke’s forehead resting on her shoulder. When they calm down, his eyes grow serious again, and he takes a deep breath and says, 

“Hey Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” Julie can feel her face stretching into a truly ridiculous grin, but she doesn’t care. 

“I love you too, Luke.” And he grins back and kisses her again. 

And yeah, he may technically still be dead, but Julie thinks that no one makes her feel quite as alive as he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact the first scene of this chapter was actually like the second thing I wrote for this fic I think? Glad I finally got there haha. 
> 
> Also this was originally just going to go from "the boys are visible" to "Juke in the studio" but then Flynn was like SURPRISE, BITCH so here she is. 
> 
> This is the last full chapter (crazy!), but I am working on an epilogue. Thank you all I love you!!!


	10. Epilogue: Ray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray Molina can see ghosts. Or at least, he can see three very specific ghosts. He hopes they stick around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone buy Ray a drink or several.

So, it turns out Ray had NO IDEA what had really been going on with his daughter, but he thinks he can be forgiven for not guessing that the real story was _literal ghosts._ He understands why she didn’t tell him at first, but it still kind of destroys him that all of this was going on and he didn’t even _know._

But he figures he can be there for her now, so that’s what he’s going to do. 

Getting to know the boys is difficult at first. Ray has never considered himself an intimidating person, but all three of them are a bit skittish around him. He knows a bit about Luke’s parents from Julie, but when he asks her if Reggie or Alex want any help tracking down their own families, Julie says no (the way she says it, a bit angry but mostly sad, breaks his heart. These boys deserved so much better.). 

It’s interesting to observe them from the outside. They’re extremely close, the three of them, and Julie seems to have easily found a place in their little makeshift family. For the first few days, they’re always in the same room, close enough for a pat on the back or an arm slung around a shoulder or a hug. He also finds the boys asleep in the hallway outside Julie’s room that first night, and hears Julie sneaking down to the studio every night after that. He doesn’t call them on it, which he realizes might seem like an insane parenting decision to anyone else, but they clearly sleep better when they’re all together, and they need the rest. And besides, he trusts the boys, and he trusts Julie. 

There’s a brief argument when Julie has to go back to school, because Luke still isn’t strong enough to follow her around all day and he has to stay home. Julie wants Alex and Reggie to stay with Luke, while Luke is adamant that they follow Julie. It would be cute if it wasn’t also stressing out Reggie and Alex so much. It’s Ray who convinces them to agree to trade off, one of them at school and one at home, until they all feel better. Julie shoots him a grateful look, and so does Alex. 

So yeah, they open up to him eventually. And with that comes a more complete picture of what’s been going on. 

He already suspected that Julie wasn’t telling him everything, especially about how bad things really were at the Hollywood Ghost Club. But he gets a pretty good idea from watching how Luke clings to the other boys and Julie (especially Julie), and learns more from Alex when his anxious rambling gets away from him. He learns the most from Reggie, who as soon as he gets comfortable, doesn’t seem to have a filter. So he knows that Caleb Covington owned people’s souls, and he knows that the bastard taunted his daughter about Rose, and he knows how close they came to losing Luke forever. And he knows that Luke sacrificed himself for Julie. 

Ray can admit, just to himself, that it’s probably good he first officially met Luke when he was still recovering from what happened to him, and that his first impression of the boy was that of a scared kid who would do anything for his friends. Because Luke at full capacity, with his boundless energy and his “take no prisoners” attitude and his cutoff shirts (god, those _shirts_ ) screams _trouble._ So yeah, it’s good that by the time Ray sees _that_ side of Luke, he also already knows that the kid would quite literally let himself be wiped out of existence as long as it kept Julie safe. 

He knows about the kiss at the high school, thanks to Alex. And he knows about the kiss in the studio, thanks to the volume of Reggie’s reaction. And he’s…calmer about it than he thought he’d be, honestly. Ray never wanted to be one of those dads who pointed the proverbial shotgun at their daughter’s partners, and he’s glad to find that when the situation actually occurs, he has no desire to threaten Luke. He’s a good kid (even if he does have questionable fashion sense). 

But as much as he wants to fully support the two of them, he can’t help but worry about the long term. 

Ray broaches the subject with Flynn exactly once, after finding Julie and Luke asleep on the couch with their arms wrapped around each other for the fifth time in as many days. Flynn just ruefully pats him on the arm.

“Oh Ray, you’re much too late. I tried to talk some sense into her, but they were inevitable. And besides, they’re pretty good together.”

“But what will happen when they…I mean isn’t he still…” Ray struggles to put the question into words, wishing for Rose. He and Rose had discussed a lot of possible parenting scenarios when she first got sick, but “our daughter is in love with a teenage ghost from the 90s” was not one of them. 

“Still dead? Technically, yeah. But Julie wasn’t able to touch them in the beginning, and now she can. And other people can see them more and more, so who knows? If anyone can pull a full Velveteen Rabbit on those boys, it’s Julie.” Ray hopes Flynn is right, because he can’t deny that Julie is happy, and a lot of that happiness is because of Luke. And he loves the boys for their own sakes (although Reggie is his favorite, don’t tell anyone). So if Ray sets up a google alert for scholarly articles on bringing ghosts back from the dead, that’s no one’s business but his own. 

And in another month, when Reggie comes flying into the kitchen yelling because his heart started beating for the first time in 25 years, Ray isn’t ashamed to say he sheds a few tears. 

(He does request that Julie and Luke stop making out in his kitchen, though. He’s happy for them, but he has _limits._ )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those unfamiliar, The Velveteen Rabbit is a story in which children can make their toys "real" by loving them enough. It is very wonderful and bittersweet, and also made childhood me unreasonably terrified of scarlet fever. 
> 
> Anyway, IT IS FINISHED. 
> 
> Wow um...I can't believe I did this? I've been reading fanfic for years but I've never even come close to writing any myself. The first chapter just popped into my head fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus and here we are. 
> 
> Truly truly, thank you so much for reading. It means a lot, and getting your kudos and comments has been a wonderful bright spot here at the start of 2021. 
> 
> Good health to you and yours, and feel free to hmu on tumblr (same username)!


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